First King of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy #0)

Terry Brooks cements the foundation\’s cornerstone in Cathedral Shannara with his novel \”First King of Shannara.\” His cement contains the grit of quests, battles, sacrifices and destiny awakening that brings readers a completed tapestry to satiate oneself. Enjoy the wizardry and epic voyage of that which is Terry Brooks\’ world.

This is my second time through the Shannara worlds, chronologically. I really enjoy reading Terry Brooks. I originally read each book as they were published. Although Terry Brooks recommends first time readers to read in publication order; it is my opinion that all readers, first time and returning, should read in chronological order. It helps the reader understand the books better.

Brooks is a weaver of this wonderful tapestry of rich contrasts. The wordsmith here cracks open a door to a world in which magic, blood and ability exist. A world where druids, elves, dwarves, border folk and humans to name but a few of the races, will all eventually have their parts to play. A world in which they must come together in order to fight against those whom magic has twisted and perverted, those who have chosen to walk in the dark and seek to subjugate them all.

After a while, author Terry Brooks decided to do what many fans had wanted him to do, and tell some of the back-story of the Shannara universe. A quick note here, that Shannara does not refer to the world these adventures take place in, but to one of several in-universe families, in this case a legendary Elven family, that the adventures revolve around most often. The world these Shannara stories take place in is actually our own, thousands of years in the future after a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed modern civilization. In the wake of said devastation, man\’s science and the ancient faerie magic from before man both were revived. In recent years, Brooks has written Shannara prequels a lot, and this trend began, really, in 1996, with the publication of First King of Shannara, which details the back-story of the famous Sword of Shannara, which was forged during the brief Second War of the Races, mentioned by Allanon to Flick and Shea Ohmsford during The Sword of Shannara. The interesting thing is that, for those who are big Allanon fans, they will not find him much in this book until the very end. Even when he does appear, his contribution, though important, is quite minor overall. This is not his story, but the adventure of Bremen, his father, and last of the Druids who bequeathed his legacy to his son. Of course, right there in that paragraph are some major spoilers I\’m leaving unstated. 😉 First King is also the story of Jerle Shannara, the famous ancestor of Sword protagonist, and first published protagonist, Shea Ohmsord (who was adopted by the Ohmsford family, and is really a Shannara). The contrast between Shea and Jerle could not be more profound, yet similar despite all of this. I don\’t know if these contrasts and yet sameness were accidental, or on purpose with Brooks, but it works. Shea and Flick were smaller than most Men. In fact, they were often called, in Sword, little Valeman, and so forth. Jerle is a big guy, athletic, and strong. Little could never be used as a word to describe him. Shea was a simple civilian who had little to do with his Elven side, and helped run his adoptive father\’s inn. Jerle was a military warrior, and eventual king of the Elves, who is Elven through and through. Yet, despite these differences, Jerle and his descendant shared in common important traits. They both cared deeply for their families, friends, and others. They both made mistakes and knew about this, and did their best to defeat the enemy, in both cases the rebel Druid Brona (known as the Warlock Lord). The difference is that Jerle failed and Shea succeeded. Why? We don\’t know for sure. There could be several reasons. Perhaps Shea was stronger emotionally, or perhaps the pressure of the deaths of those he commanded impacted Jerle, while Shea didn\’t have this to deal with, or perhaps, as Allanon seemed to suggest in Sword, Bremen handled it in a bad way. Thus, Allanon handled it differently in the hopes (slim, but realized) that Shea would succeed in this way where his valiant ancestor had failed. What I really liked about this novel was two-fold. First off, Brooks did not shy away from the story of the original novel, Sword, while fleshing it out thoroughly. Thusly, he did manage to make the world even less like Middle-Earth, while not giving into those who childishly (and fraudulently, in my opinion) accuse Sword of being too derivative of Tolkien\’s works. The second part about First King that I enjoyed was how Brooks kept the novel very idealistic. In recent years, he has gone sometimes darker, but here, while he was somewhat dark for the history of the Second War of the Races, he still kept things idealistic. If only the more recent books were this way. I really enjoyed this novel, and Highly Recommend it to Shannara fans, and epic fantasy fans in general.

I\’ve been an avid reader of Brooks since I was a kid. This may not be his best work but what prequel ever is? The 4 lands is one of the best world\’s that fiction has to offer and Brooks does an incredible job expanding on its lore and legends and bringing characters to life. Getting to read about Jerle Shannara and Bremen\’s lives and the roles they played was a treat any Shannara fan will enjoy!

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